Avatar 1: hellou there and Welcome to our EGreenNews Conversations.!
Avatar 2: Pleasure to be here with you today.
Avatar 1: What topics should we cover first?
Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat: Assessing and Addressing the Risks
A global review of extreme heat over the past 12 months (May 2024 to May 2025), climate change’s influence on that heat, and strategies to prevent increasingly frequent and intense heat from claiming lives worldwide.
What’s inside the report:
Ahead of Heat Action Day, this new report from scientists at World Weather Attribution, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and Climate Central assesses the influence of human-caused climate change on dangerous heat waves over the past 12 months (May 1, 2024, to May 1, 2025).
The period of analysis spans Earth’s hottest year and hottest January ever recorded. The report found that human-caused climate change is boosting dangerous extreme heat for billions of people, and making heat events longer and more likely.
● Over the 12-month period, 4 billion people — about 49% of the global population — experienced at least 30 additional days of extreme heat (hotter than 90% of temperatures observed in their local area over the 1991-2020 period) due to human-caused climate change.
● In 195 countries/territories, climate change at least doubled the number of extreme heat days, as compared to a world without climate change.
● All 67 extreme heat events — identified as significant based on record-setting temperatures or major impacts to people or property — were found to be influenced by climate change.
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Quick pause here — we’re talking heat action with some powerful insights from the Climate Central as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the World Weather Attribution.
Their Extreme Heat Initiatives seriously open your eyes.
Avatar 2:
Absolutely. Their approach is setting new standards for handling heat. You’re listening to EGreenews Conversations, naturally. Now, back to what you asked.
The year 2024 was, once again, the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous year (2023). It also marked the first year in which global temperatures were clearly 1.5°C or more above the pre-industrial average for the whole year. Each month from January to June 2024 was the hottest ever recorded for that respective month, while the rest of the year was only marginally cooler than the record-breaking period of July to December 2023.
The year 2025 started with the hottest January ever recorded and the lowest amount of Arctic sea ice that a Northern Hemisphere winter has ever seen.
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This is not a surprise or an accident — the causes are well known and the impacts are devastating. The continued burning of coal, oil, and gas has released and accumulated enough greenhouse gases to warm the planet by 1.3°C (over a 5-year average) — and by more than 1.5°C in 2024 alone — compared to pre-industrial times. In 2024, as in recent years, human-induced climate change drove more intense and frequent extreme weather events, with heat waves clearly and dramatically aected. One illustration of this is the March 2025 heat wave in Central Asia, which was up to 10°C warmer than it would have been without human-induced climate change.
Such assessments are now routinely possible. In the past decade, climate science has made significant progress in understanding how climate change fuels extreme temperatures. Thanks to developments in attribution science and climate modeling, scientists can now quantify how much heat climate change has added to an extreme temperature event and predict how heat waves will grow more frequent and intense unless emissions are cut drastically. Research can also show how many people have died because of extreme heat driven by human-induced climate change.
One of the most consistent climate attribution science findings is that every heat wave today is made more likely, more intense, and longer-lasting due to humans burning fossil fuels (Clarke et al., 2022). In the last few years, researchers have identified many deadly extreme heat events that would have been virtually impossible without human-induced climate change. Although floods and cyclones often dominate headlines, heat is arguably the deadliest extreme event, with thousands of extreme heat-related deaths reported each year and many more that go unreported or unrecognised as linked to heat.
Again, you are listening egreenews and today we are chatting again about heat waves specially some of the last reports from Climate Central as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and the World Weather Attribution.
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So much info coming your way, huh?
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Actually, it’s more like a bunch of questions! Ready to get started?
Avatar 1
Yeah, but how exactly should I begin?
Avatar 2
Try following Hugi Hernandez, the founder of Egreenews. You might find him on LinkedIn or at egreenews dot org.
Avatar 1 :
Thanks for sharing that! I will write it down today!
Avatar 1: Ever notice there’s always a catch to learning new stuff?
Avatar 2: For sure! Not enough data, not the whole story—always missing something.
Avatar 1: True, but it’s more about curiosity—finding new views from experts or what we experience.
Avatar 2: Yep, mixing expert advice with real life makes it click.
Avatar 1: It can get overwhelming, though.
Avatar 2: Definitely. With so much out there, picking a place to start is tough.
Avatar 1: If you want to dig into heat resilience, check the Climate Central
Avatar 2: Great call. I’m a fan of The and the World Weather Attribution—super innovative.
Avatar 1: And the as well as the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre has loads of helpful heat safety info.
Avatar 2: Right, but people move things forward. Like Hugi Hernandez at Egreenews.org—he keeps climate talk creative.
Avatar 1: There’s a whole network building solutions. Egreenews is launching new hubs, like eDisaster, so you can learn risk and resilience 24/7.
Avatar 2: That’s awesome. Whether learning or connecting, there’s inspiration everywhere. LinkedIn’s packed with changemakers too.
Avatar 1: So—want to start? These talks matter. Together, we prep our communities for disaster.
Avatar 2: I’m in. Stick around—we’ll compare heat with other weather and what that means for leaders.
Avatar 1: Hey, seriously, gracias a montón for being here today — really means a lot!
Avatar 2: Yeah, thanks so much for sticking with us! ¡Hasta luego, everybody! Catch you all next time for sure.
Avatar 1: Totally my pleasure. See you soon! Ciao, sayonara, and... you know, just take care till then!
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